Chainguard’s industry coalition reports 40,000 findings processed 

KIRKLAND, Wash., July 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chainguard today announced the expansion of Athena, the industry coalition for the orchestrated defense of open source software, adding new members, including Akamai, Black Duck, Cycode, JFrog, Morgan Stanley, Qualys, Upwind, and Zafran. The company also shared updated figures on the volume and severity of vulnerabilities the coalition has processed since launching three weeks ago.

To date, Athena has processed more than 40,000 vulnerabilities, doubling its intake since launching three weeks ago. Of vulnerabilities submitted so far, 42% are critical- or high-severity. While significant, the number understates the real exposure, as frontier AI models can chain low- and medium-severity bugs into more serious attacks that no single CVSS score captures. Additionally, 86% are network reachable, meaning they can be accessed and triggered by attackers at the network level. About 7% sit in packages more than five years old. These are latent flaws in mature, widely trusted dependencies that survived extensive expert review without detection.

“Frontier models are finding zero-days in open source faster than anyone can respond with discovery to exploitation is now measured in hours, and no one company is going to get ahead of that alone. Athena proves that orchestrated defense works,” said Dan Lorenc, CEO and Co-founder, Chainguard. “The volume and severity of what Athena is already finding make clear just how much depends on getting this right. The more of the ecosystem that joins, the less room attackers have to operate.”

A growing coalition for open source defense

Athena’s expansion reflects growing industry recognition that open source vulnerabilities require a coordinated response. New members joining Athena’s founding partners include Akamai, Black Duck, Cycode, JFrog, Morgan Stanley, Qualys, Upwind, and Zafran.

Athena’s partners work across the coalition’s defense pipeline: findings are pooled and de-duplicated, hardened fixes are built under embargo, partners stack non-patch protection around them, silent fixes are surfaced to exposed downstream users, and durable fixes are driven upstream to maintainers.

How the coalition protects users before a patch ships

Open source vulnerabilities do not respect organizational boundaries, and a patch that exists but cannot be deployed in time offers little protection. As part of its growing membership, Athena has expanded its cyber partner network, making cyber the largest cohort of partners in the coalition. Cyber partners receive a dedicated pre-disclosure feed and use it to build mitigations at the network, endpoint, and traffic layers that hold even before a clean patch exists or can be deployed. They also help surface “silent” vulnerabilities, or vulnerabilities that are fixed upstream but never assigned a CVE, that conventional scanning tools generally miss. 

“Defending digital infrastructure in the age of AI requires a rapid, unified response,” said Boaz Gelbord, Chief Security Officer, Akamai. “Athena allows us to protect customers with pre-embargo hardened software and platform-level mitigations before vulnerabilities can be exploited.”

“Frontier AI models are not only discovering thousands of zero days, but also chaining vulnerabilities together to exploit existing ones at machine speed, collapsing the gap between discovery and exploitation from weeks to hours. In this new reality, the era of ‘scan and hope’ is definitively over. Attackers are actively weaponizing the trusted models and agentic tools driving today’s development,” said Gal Marder, Chief Strategy Officer, JFrog. “By joining Athena’s orchestrated defense coalition, JFrog is committed to helping organizations bridge the dangerous gap between an AI-discovered vulnerability and remediation in production. We provide the single source of truth for all software assets which enables fully-automated updates of patched components at scale, and full governance of the entire remediation process of every binary component, using any packaging technology in any environment.”

“As consistent contributors to open-source vulnerability research and disclosure, Qualys welcomes the invitation to participate in Chainguard’s Athena coalition and secure open-source software by safely validating the exploitability of vulnerabilities with our technology,” said Dilip Bachwani, chief technology officer, Qualys. “We believe creating a safer digital future is a shared industry responsibility. This builds on our ongoing work to help customers, partners, and stakeholders prepare for a future where vulnerability discovery and remediation pressure move faster than ever.”

“AI is fundamentally changing the pace of vulnerability discovery, making coordinated defense more important than ever. By joining Athena, Upwind is bringing pre-disclosure vulnerability intelligence together with runtime visibility, helping organizations identify affected workloads and reduce the window between discovery and defense. Protecting the open source ecosystem is a shared responsibility, and we’re proud to contribute Upwind’s runtime intelligence to strengthen the coalition and improve visibility for the entire community,” said Tomer Hadassi, COO, Upwind. 

Every partner closes a gap, and the more layers the coalition covers, the less time an attacker has to operate before a flaw becomes public.

Akrites: the importance of driving fixes upstream

Pre-disclosure protection buys time, but the goal is to land a durable fix in the upstream codebase. To close that loop, Chainguard has joined Akrites, the Linux Foundation’s coordinated effort to remediate and disclose open source vulnerabilities upstream. Once a fix is built, shielded, and surfaced, Athena hands the finding to Akrites, which operates a shared Security Incident Response Team (SIRT) and a single standardized disclosure process, so maintainers receive notifications from a single trusted partner rather than a flood of overlapping reports. For critical packages with no active maintainer, Akrites serves as a maintainer of last resort. 

Joining the coalition to defend open source

The open source ecosystem is too large and too critical for any single organization to defend alone. Athena is built for the organizations that want to do more than react. Organizations that find vulnerabilities can submit them to the coalition for carry-through to a durable upstream fix. Organizations that build detections or mitigations, or carry fixes into real environments at scale, can become cyber partners and join the feed. Learn more at chainguard.dev/athena.

About Athena

Athena is the industry coalition for the orchestrated defense of open source software. Frontier AI models can now find novel, chained zero-day vulnerabilities in open source at machine speed, and the gap between discovery and exploitation has collapsed from years to hours. Athena closes the loop from vulnerability discovery through pre-embargo remediation to layered, defense-in-depth protection: pooling findings from across the coalition, building hardened fixes under embargo, stacking independent mitigations at the network, endpoint, and mission layers, and driving durable fixes upstream to maintainers. Members include leading global organizations, such as BNY, Chainguard, Cisco, Cloudflare, JPMorganChase, Morgan Stanley, PwC, and more, spanning submitters, platform and network providers, cybersecurity vendors, and global professional services. Learn more at chainguard.dev/athena.

About Chainguard
Chainguard is the trust layer for open source software. Its solutions provide engineers and AI agents with the hardened, trusted, and production-ready artifacts they rely on, so organizations can build fast while staying compliant and protecting against AI supply chain attacks. Customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and global industry leaders, including Anduril, Canva, Fortinet, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, OpenAI, Snap Inc., and Snowflake. Chainguard is venture-backed by leading investors, including Amplify, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mantis VC, Redpoint Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Spark Capital. For more information, visit: https://www.chainguard.dev/

AUSTIN, Texas, July 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Building on the ongoing relief efforts of Bambu Lab LATAM, including a USD 50,000 contribution toward earthquake recovery in Venezuela, Bambu Lab today announced a further step: a 48-hour community initiative beginning July 13 at 8:00 a.m. UTC−4, 2026. Use promo code 4Venezuela at checkout on eligible PLA Basic Refill in designated colors on Bambu Lab US and EU stores. Bambu Lab will donate an amount equal to its full list price (MSRP) to UN Crisis Relief in the name of the maker community.

How to participate

Available exclusively on Bambu Lab US and EU online stores.

Purchase PLA Basic Refill in Venezuela flag colors:

• Yellow (10400)
• Blue (10601)
• Red (10200)

Enter promo code 4Venezuela at checkout. Dedicated inventory has been set aside for this drive.

Customers may purchase eligible products at promotional prices during the drive. Regardless of the price paid at checkout, Bambu Lab will calculate its donation to UN Crisis Relief based on each product’s MSRP (original list price). Bambu Lab will cover any difference between the purchase price and the MSRP-based donation amount. In other words, you pay the promotional price, while Bambu Lab donates an amount equal to the full list price as a result of your purchase.

Full campaign details — including eligibility and how donations are handled for returns or cancellations, will be published when the drive opens on July 13. Please refer to those details for the most up-to-date information.

Transparency: After the campaign closes on July 15, Bambu Lab will publish the total amount raised and confirm the donation to UN Crisis Relief on our official channels when final figures are available.

Our relief commitments to date

This community initiative builds on actions Bambu Lab and our partners have already taken after twin earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24, 2026 − magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, the strongest seismic events in the country in more than a century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

In addition to USD 50,000 in cash support committed by Bambu Lab LATAM on July 3 for earthquake relief efforts, we will continue supporting LayerLab, our official distributor in Venezuela, with the filament and printers needed to sustain maker-led production on the ground.

“Bambu Lab’s filament and material support has fulfilled what we need to keep production running on the ground. With the supplies provided, our local maker network can continue meeting current demand for priority items”

− Carlos Hernàndez, Founder and Director, LayerLab

LayerLab has also contributed independently − donating 160 kg of filament and print capacity − to produce and deliver supplies to affected areas.

Why we are opening this drive

In the days after the earthquakes, makers around the world responded − open-sourcing designs, printing medical aids, and coordinating deliveries across borders. Ostec3D, a Venezuelan entrepreneurship initiative focused on 3D-printed orthoses, released thermoplastic splint files through a public Google Drive archive. Volunteers connected through communities such as Reddit’s r/3Dprinting and PrintForHelp.

Bambu Lab and LayerLab were part of that response. We established direct contact with the development and engineering team at Ostec3D to align material support with on-the-ground production priorities − including hand splints and oxygen connectors.

Since then, we have heard from makers across our global community asking how they can take part. This drive is our answer: a way to participate as the Maker community, with proceeds donated in the community’s name − standing with the makers who acted first, and adding our collective name to theirs.

Learn more

Open files & design source

Ávila Splint and Ostec3D medical designs do not require digital scanning; they are manually thermoformed in hot water (80°C–95°C) and must be applied only by medical specialists or trained healthcare professionals. Any printing and use must be independently evaluated based on conditions on the ground.

• Ostec3D: https://www.ostec3d.com/
• Splint file archive (Google Drive): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IsRXzkUHA0u5EKhz9YXHzAYcEHha0H0u?usp=drive_link
• MakerWorld (@Ostec3D): https://makerworld.com/en/@Ostec3D
• Printables: https://www.printables.com/model/1766687-body-casts-to-help-venezuelan-earthquake-victims

Community coordination

• Fab City TTW − Venezuela response tracker: https://ttw.fab.city/venezuela/
• Reddit − r/3Dprinting: https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/1uhevtz/requesting_help_after_earthquake_in_venezuela/
• PrintForHelp: https://printforhelp.org/parts

Social

• Ostec3D (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/ostec3d/reel/DPHqJZhAesx/
• Ostec3D × 3Dxav × MakerWorld (Instagram): https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaHsrtURwoH/?igsh=MmI4cXVkMnNqZW42

Further reading

• FOX 17 − teen maker printing splints for Venezuela: https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/east-grand-rapids-forest-hills-cascade/ada-teen-turns-3d-printing-business-into-earthquake-relief-effort-for-venezuela
• WAPA TV − Puerto Rican students 3D-printing splints for Venezuela earthquake victims: https://wapa.tv/noticias/locales/estudiantes-boricuas-fabrican-f-rulas-en-3d-para-ayudar-a-damnificados-en-venezuela/article_97261121-f09c-4e1e-9760-c11a8a99c020.html

Other ways to help

• If you prefer to contribute through direct financial support, please consider established and trusted relief organizations of your choice.

About Bambu Lab

Bambu Lab is a consumer-tech company focusing on desktop 3D printers. Its state-of-the-art 3D printers offer a feature-rich, first-class experience for a global community of 3D printing makers, aiming to break the barriers between the digital and physical worlds and bring creativity to a whole new level. Bambu Lab sells its 3D printers, filaments, and accessories on its official website, serving customers across 30+ countries.

Learn more at https://www.bambulab.com.

NEW YORK, July 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Basketball, as one of the world’s most widely played sports, continues to evolve across competition levels, participation scale, and training sophistication. From professional leagues to grassroots programs and individual players, the sport has developed into a global ecosystem that is constantly pushing performance boundaries.

In parallel, basketball training methodologies have evolved significantly, becoming more systematic, data-informed, and diverse. These advancements have played a key role in improving performance across all levels of the sport.

At the same time, improvements in training have further accelerated the development of basketball itself. As athletes train more efficiently and precisely, the game continues to advance in speed and complexity, forming a continuous cycle of mutual reinforcement between the sport and its training systems.

However, within this cycle lies a persistent structural constraint: unequal access to high-quality training resources and limited scalability of effective training environments.

In most real-world settings, sustained high-level training still depends heavily on external support, including coaches, rebound partners, and fully equipped facilities. As a result, training quality is often shaped by available resources rather than fully controlled by the individual.

This dependency creates a ceiling on training efficiency and accessibility, limiting the scalability of modern training methods and ultimately constraining the pace at which basketball training can evolve alongside the sport itself.

CARRY LAUNCHES ON KICKSTARTER

Against this backdrop, LUMISTAR today announced the official launch of CARRY on Kickstarter, marking the global debut of its AI-powered basketball training system.

CARRY is now live on Kickstarter with early-backer pricing starting at US$2,499, ahead of its planned retail price of US$4,999. Initial deliveries are expected to begin in Q4 2026.

THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND CARRY

CARRY is designed to make high-intensity basketball training more accessible through real-time, vision-driven interaction.

Unlike traditional shooting machines that operate on fixed trajectories, CARRY integrates a quad-camera 4K vision system powered by a high-performance chip. This enables continuous tracking of player movement during training sessions, allowing the system to adjust passing direction and timing dynamically. It also responds to gesture-based inputs for drill control.

The system is designed to significantly increase training efficiency. According to LUMISTAR, completing 500 game-realistic shots can be reduced from approximately four hours in traditional setups to around 45 minutes using CARRY.

In addition, CARRY incorporates an AI Coach Report that processes more than 20 performance metrics, including shooting consistency, movement efficiency, release stability, and shot distribution patterns, translating them into structured feedback for skill development.

The system is portable and can be deployed in approximately 60 seconds, allowing structured training in a wide range of environments.

EARLY VALIDATION

CARRY underwent early testing with more than 300 users and professional athletes, including WNBA Champion Aerial Powers and former NBA player Derrick Brown, who provided feedback on its tracking and passing performance during training sessions.

The system made its public debut at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, where live demonstrations attracted attention from attendees and media outlets including CNET, Tom’s Guide, and FOX5 Las Vegas.

Following CES, LUMISTAR hosted a live on-court experience session in Los Angeles, where CARRY was tested in real training environments by basketball creators, coaches, and athletes.

Participants included NBA Skills Trainer Sean Marshall, former Drew League MVP Frank Nitty, and streetball legend Bone Collector.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Kickstarter campaign marks the first opportunity for basketball players and early adopters worldwide to access and support CARRY as it begins its global rollout.

LUMISTAR stated that it sees ongoing advancements in AI and robotics as contributing to new approaches in sports training, with the potential to expand access to structured practice for athletes at different levels.

Media Contact

Website: https://lumistar.ai/

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1596816961/lumistar-carry-ai-quad-camera-basketball-training-partner

Email: yolanda.huang@lumistar.ai

SoftAtHome has delivered the world’s first Wi-Fi 7 repeater built on a full prpl software stack, with deployments live at Orange in Poland and France and at least three further European markets to follow.

PARIS, July 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SoftAtHome, the leading independent software provider for broadband, video and analytics, and a global leader in Smart Wi-Fi, today announced that its prpl-based Wi-Fi 7 repeater software is now deployed commercially across Orange in Europe.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: 
https://www.multivu.com/softathome/9408651-en-brings-prpl-commercial-scale-orange-wifi-7-deployments-across-europe

The deployment is a milestone for prpl, the open-source framework designed to provide operators with a common, hardware-independent, and operator-controlled software base for broadband devices. After years as an industry promise, prpl is now running in subscribers’ homes at Group scale, with Wi-Fi 7 as the catalyst.

Orange Poland launched the first such device in March 2026 as the Smartbox Wi-Fi 7. Orange France’s prpl-based Wi-Fi 7 repeater is now also live, with at least three further Orange European markets expected to follow. The work builds on earlier prpl deployments within Orange, including Orange Jordan, where SoftAtHome delivered prpl-based gateway software around a year ago.

SoftAtHome engineered the prpl stack to support differentiated requirements across Orange markets without building separate software for each country, showing that an open platform can carry operator-specific services and configurations while preserving a common base.

The repeaters run SoftAtHome’s Wifi’ON Smart Wi-Fi software on prpl. prpl provides a standardised hardware abstraction layer, allowing the same software stack to run across different chipset generations. SoftAtHome has contributed to prpl since the project’s early stages and has deployed prpl-based solutions with multiple operators.

Interoperability is based on prplMesh with EasyMesh inside. These open standards allow the repeaters to operate across Orange’s different gateway environments, without locking subscribers into a single vendor ecosystem. The software is compatible with Orange’s existing gateway installed base, allowing functioning equipment to remain in service. Where gateways support it, Wi-Fi 7 extends throughout the home; earlier-generation gateways can also benefit from Wi-Fi 7 connectivity.

Wifi’ON manages mesh topology dynamically. When several repeaters are active, the software automatically determines whether each unit should connect to the gateway or to another repeater, selecting the path that delivers the best connectivity quality. No subscriber configuration is required. In Poland, the Smartbox Wi-Fi 7 supports up to three units per household, extending coverage for larger and multi-storey homes.

SoftAtHome’s Eyes’ON analytics give Orange continuous visibility into Wi-Fi performance across the installed base. Together, Wifi’ON and Eyes’ON form SoftAtHome’s Wi-Fi software stack on the repeater, combining optimisation with observability.

The repeaters add Wi-Fi 7 capabilities, including lower latency, Multi-Link Operation, and seamless operation under a single SSID across Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, and Wi-Fi 7 devices.

The hardware was also developed with sustainability in mind, including recycled plastics and a design that supports repair and refurbishment. Because the platform is open and software-based, Orange can continue to improve the subscriber’s experience through updates rather than hardware replacements.

“After the first worldwide deployment with Orange Jordan in 2025, a new step has been taken in the prpl journey” said Arnaud Bellivier de Prin, CEO of SoftAtHome. “Delivering the world’s first Wi-Fi 7 repeater on a full prpl stack and doing it at Orange scale across several European markets shows that operators can adopt an open platform, bring in new silicon partners and still preserve the seamless experience their subscribers expect. We are proud to reach this point alongside Orange.”

Contact:
Marta Twardowska for SoftAtHome – E: press@softathome.com – T: @SoftAtHome

SoftAtHome Brings prpl to Commercial Scale with Orange Wi-Fi 7 Deployments Across Europe

SINGAPORE, July 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — GeeLark, a cloud-phone platform for mobile-native social media operations, today commented on Instagram’s expanded originality policies and the growing impact these changes may have on social media teams managing multiple accounts.

Instagram has continued to increase its emphasis on original content across the platform. In late April 2026, the company expanded its policy around unoriginal content beyond Reels to include photos and carousels, limiting recommendation eligibility for accounts that primarily repost content they did not create or significantly modify. The change has been widely viewed as part of Instagram’s broader effort to prioritize original creators and reduce the reach of aggregator-style accounts.

The update comes at a time when social media teams, agencies, creators, and brand operators are already facing greater pressure to produce differentiated content across multiple accounts. For teams that have historically relied on reposting, light curation, or repeated content formats to maintain publishing volume, the shift raises the operational standard for what successful account management now requires.

At the same time, Instagram’s Live feature has also become less accessible to smaller accounts. Since 2025, Instagram has required users to have a public account with at least 1,000 followers to start a live broadcast, creating an additional threshold for early-stage creators and growing accounts that previously used Live as a way to build audience relationships.

Together, these changes point to a broader platform trend: social media growth is becoming less about volume alone and more about originality, account-level differentiation, and consistent mobile-native execution.

For social media professionals, the impact is practical. Content calendars that once depended on reposting or lightly edited assets now require more original production. Agencies managing multiple accounts can no longer rely on near-identical workflows across every profile. Smaller accounts must work harder to build visibility before they can access certain growth formats such as live streaming.

This shift also changes the role of operations. Managing many accounts well now requires workflows that let each account keep its own content strategy, publishing rhythm, and operating environment — not just a shared content calendar.

“Instagram’s originality push reflects a broader change across social platforms,” said Eleanor Xie, CMO at GeeLark. “Platforms are increasingly rewarding accounts that operate authentically and independently. For teams managing more than a handful of accounts, that means investing in better workflows and infrastructure — not just producing more content.”

GeeLark’s cloud-phone platform allows teams to manage Android cloud environments remotely, giving each account its own operating environment while supporting centralized oversight across accounts, campaigns, regions, or brands. Rather than relying only on browser dashboards or post-scheduling tools, teams can use these mobile-native environments to handle the full lifecycle of account operations — publishing, maintenance, profile updates, and campaign testing — directly from the apps these platforms are built around.

As Instagram continues to raise the bar for originality and account quality, GeeLark expects multi-account teams to place greater emphasis on differentiated workflows and mobile-native operations going forward.

About GeeLark

GeeLark is a cloud-phone platform designed for mobile-native operations. By providing Android cloud phone environments, RPA automation tools, and centralized device management capabilities, GeeLark helps marketers, agencies, developers, and businesses streamline social media workflows and manage multi-account operations more efficiently.

Learn more at www.geelark.com.

Powered by Apkudo Device OS™, the compact physical AI system is the only system that automates cosmetic and functional inspection for complex device form factors without hardware reconfiguration

BALTIMORE, July 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Apkudo, the Device Passport™ Platform company, today announced the commercial launch of the Robotic Standalone Automation (RSA) appliance. Engineered by Alpha Automatics and available exclusively through Apkudo, RSA is the first automated processing solution capable of handling the full spectrum of modern device form factors, including flip devices, foldables, and tablets, without requiring hardware reconfiguration between operational runs. The system runs on Device OS, Apkudo’s foundational platform layer that enables an open ecosystem of robotics manufacturers to build, deploy, and operate advanced device processing solutions.

While consumer adoption of flexible screens continues to accelerate, driven by highly anticipated product cycles and 24% year-over-year growth in foldable shipments (Counterpoint Research), these form factors have simultaneously become among the fastest-growing and most operationally challenging segments in mobile returns. Manual handling of foldables and tablets introduces severe grading subjectivity, slows down warehouse processing throughput, and limits the depth of verified condition data available for downstream resale programs. This processing bottleneck affects participants throughout the reverse logistics ecosystem who lack access to standardized, high-volume automation designed for modern device shapes.

The RSA appliance solves these challenges by processing smartphones, tablets, and foldable devices on a single system for precise cosmetic and functional testing with no hardware or software reconfiguration between runs. It completely eliminates manual handling and operator subjectivity in device testing and analytics. The system uses advanced robotics, integrated torque sensors, and acoustic capture to deliver precise foldable diagnostics. For larger display surfaces like tablets, the system uses stitched high-resolution imaging to preserve per-pixel detail. Apkudo’s cosmetic Device AI™ models enable robust defect detection and are compliant with the CTIA 5.1 grading standard. All generated data automatically streams to the Apkudo Platform to populate a unique Device Passport.

“Being powered by Apkudo allowed us to apply our hardware engineering expertise to an intricate industry challenge,” said Charles Xie, CEO of Alpha Automatics. “The RSA appliance provides the structural precision required to handle modern, flexible form factors safely and efficiently, creating a zero-touch compact system that integrates seamlessly into existing physical workflows.”

“RSA brings the same physical AI precision the Apkudo platform delivers for standard devices to the form factors that have historically challenged the reverse logistics industry,” said Josh Matthews, CEO and Co-Founder of Apkudo. “By using Device OS as our platform software layer, we can empower hardware innovators like Alpha Automatics to help the industry solve the foldable and tablet segment at scale, giving operators absolute data veracity without the high operational costs of manual workflows.”

Designed for straightforward deployment, the system fits through standard industrial doorways and processes up to 30 devices per hour. This agile footprint makes the unit excellent for smaller regional sellers processing as few as 5,000 units per month who want to introduce automation without major warehouse layout overhauls. Simultaneously, mid- and large-sized return centers can link multiple units, conveyor to conveyor, to scale capacity incrementally as volumes grow. High-volume centers can deploy the system as a specialized standalone workcell, extending automated diagnostics to complex device types that legacy point solutions cannot accommodate. OEM-specific RSA cells have been operational for more than a year, and initial commercial deployments are currently underway with ecosystem leaders including Likewize, MTR, and TMT First.

You can learn more about RSA at Mobile Disrupt 2026, July 7–8, in Miami. Visit Apkudo at booth #1001–1002. Learn more at apkudo.com.

About Apkudo
Apkudo is the Device Passport Platform for the connected device ecosystem. We capture and unify data from every program, transaction, and touchpoint across a device’s lifecycle, creating a single, trusted Device Passport™ for every asset. For companies that manage, sell, or buy devices, this means a verified record they can act on: to restore buyer confidence, maximize value, and reduce risk at every decision point. Our unique advantage is data fidelity and veracity, built on precision-automated robotics that have processed millions of devices, generating objective, machine-verified data that no competitor can match. To learn more, visit apkudo.com. 

Media Contact:
Kristen Barry
SVP Marketing and Communications
kristen.barry@apkudo.com 

Minimises Cardiopulmonary Concerns and Maintains Quality of Life

HONG KONG, July 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The HKSH Cancer Centre under HKSH Medical Group (HKSH) introduced proton therapy in 2023, covering a wide range of cancer types including breast, prostate as well as head and neck cancers, and has since accumulated about 940 cases of clinical data. Around 45% of its proton therapy treatments involve breast cancer patients receiving postoperative radiotherapy to reduce the risk of recurrence. Leveraging its clinical experience and innovative technologies in breast cancer proton therapy, HKSH has presented two clinical studies focusing on Chinese breast cancer patients at the Asia-Oceania Particle Therapy Co-operative Group 2025 (PTCOG-AO) and Particle Therapy Co-operative Group Annual Conference 2026 (PTCOG). Both studies are the first of their kind in Asia and further advance precision medicine aimed at helping patients “live with cancer while preserving quality of life.”

Mr. Wyman LI, Chief Operating Officer of HKSH Medical Group and Director of Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, remarked, “Clinical research is the core driving force behind medical innovation. HKSH Proton Therapy Centre has demonstrated strong research depth on the international academic stage, injecting powerful momentum into precision cancer treatment for Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. At the same time, HKSH actively introduces cutting‑edge technologies, including being Asia’s first to adopt photon‑counting CT for simulation and treatment planning. Shouldering the responsibility of nurturing national proton therapy professionals, HKSH collaborated with the National Cancer Centre in 2025 to launch a joint training course and a 10-month training programme, leveraging technological innovation and clinical excellence to provide patients and their families with more precise and effective disease management services.”

The first study presented in the PTCOG-AO 2025 compared proton radiotherapy with conventional photon radiotherapy in preventing breast cancer recurrence after surgery. Results showed that both treatment modalities achieved comparable disease control, with a 100% survival rate in each group.* However, modern cancer care places increasing emphasis on reducing side effects and long-term complications. The study demonstrated that proton therapy offers a distinct advantage in dose precision, reducing radiation exposure to the heart during breast cancer treatment to nearly zero, approximately up to 40 times lower than photon therapy, while only a very small number of patients experienced Grade 2 or higher toxicities.

The second study explored a hypofractionated regimen consisting of just five sessions of proton therapy for breast cancer. This approach substantially reduces the need for frequent hospital visits, lowers overall treatment time and costs, and alleviates psychological burden on patients. Combining a shorter treatment duration with high precision and strong clinical effectiveness, the regimen represents a key strategic direction for delivering more cost-effective proton therapy to breast cancer patients at HKSH.

Dr. Amy CHANG, Co-Director of HKSH Proton Therapy Centre and Specialist in Clinical Oncology, commented, “With the growing uptake of breast cancer screening, more patients are being diagnosed at an earlier stage. As survival rates improve, quality of life has become a key consideration. Treatment options with fewer side effects, such as proton therapy, are therefore increasingly important, enabling patients to maintain a good quality of life while effectively controlling their disease.”

Photon Therapy Minimises Unnecessary Radiation Exposure to the Heart and Lungs
The first study was a retrospective matched comparative study involving 202 Chinese breast cancer patients arranged in a matched cohort for comparison. The median ages of the two groups were 51 and 52, with stages 0 to III, predominantly left-sided breast cancer patients, who underwent 5 to 25 fractions of proton or photon radiotherapy. All patients had undergone partial or total mastectomy. However, due to the risk of breast cancer recurrence, adjuvant therapy is generally required post-surgery to eliminate residual lesions, and radiotherapy is one of the primary modalities.

Apart from conventional photon therapy, proton therapy is a more advanced and precise treatment option. To explore the efficacy of both in preventing recurrence and their safety, the study used 1:1 Propensity Score Matching (PSM) based on factors including patient’s age, tumour location, staging, treatment fraction, histology type and medical history to compare two groups: one receiving conventional photon therapy between 2020 and 2024, and the other receiving proton therapy between 2023 and 2025, with 101 patients in each group.

Dr. Amy CHANG explained, “Study reveals that the survival rate of both groups during the follow-up period is 100%, including stage III breast cancer patients with larger tumours and more lymph node metastases. The results are highly encouraging.” To more comprehensively help patients overcome treatment challenges, treatment safety must be examined. In photon therapy, radiation not only exposes the tumour but also penetrates through to the heart and lungs behind the tumour, leading to long-term impact such as heart disease and pneumonitis. In contrast, proton therapy exhibits ultra precision, targeting the tumour with radiation energy released in a concentrated burst upon reaching the tumour, while ensuring that radiation dose drastically drops and dissipates afterwards, thereby minimising damage to surrounding healthy organs.

This study showed that all dose parameters in the proton therapy group were superior to those in the photon group, especially in relation to the heart and lungs. The average heart radiation dose received by patients in the proton group was close to 0 Gy (Gray, abbreviated Gy, the unit of absorbed radiation dose), at only 0.28Gy (25-fraction proton) and 0.12 Gy (15-fraction proton), compared to 5.34 Gy (25-fraction photon) and 4.71 Gy (15-fraction photon)—a difference of approximately 20 to 40 times. Dr. CHANG remarked, “Earlier research data has shown that for every 1Gy increase in heart radiation dose, the risk of heart disease rises by 7.4%. Therefore, proton therapy can minimise unnecessary radiation exposure to the heart, significantly reducing patients’ risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Hypofractionated Proton Therapy Results in Low Toxicity, Minimising Skin Damage
Overcoming cancer and returning to a normal life is the common goal of all cancer patients. Given the current trend of breast cancer diagnosed at younger ages, quality of life is a critical factor in choosing a treatment plan. Dr. CHANG highlighted that in this matched comparative study, only a small number of patients in the proton therapy group experienced grade 2 or higher severe toxicity reactions (toxicity graded from 0 to 3, with 3 being the most severe). Regarding skin-related reactions including radiation dermatitis which is a major concern for women, the proportion of patients in the proton group experiencing grade 2-3 toxicity was 3% lower than that in the photon group. In terms of late toxicity, the proton group also had 10% fewer cases of grade 1 breast edema compared with the photon group. This shows that hypofractionated proton therapy can better preserve the breast appearance and skin integrity of patients, alleviating their psychological burden.

5-Fraction Proton Therapy Helps Patients Maintain Quality of Life
As of 30 June 2026, HKSH Proton Therapy Centre has performed about 940 proton therapy cases, with breast cancer accounting for about 45%, accumulating clinical experience with more than 400 patient cases. Compared to other proton therapy centres in the region, HKSH has extensive clinical experience in proton therapy for breast cancer. To explore more cost-effective “hypofractionation” treatment methods in line with international medical trends, the team launched a clinical study** on 5-fraction proton therapy for breast cancer in 2024 and presented preliminary data at the PTCOG 2026.

The preliminary data followed 27 patients with stage 0-II breast cancer, 70% of whom had left-sided breast cancer. All patients completed 5 fractions of whole-breast proton therapy totaling 25 Gy. Dr. CHANG who led this study said, “The study recorded zero cases of grade 2 or higher acute severe toxicity. The main side effects were mild dermatitis, fatigue, and breast pain.” The study also assessed patients using Harvard Cosmesis Scale, proving that proton therapy had minimal impact on appearance with no obvious changes. Multiple quality of life indicators also showed a trend of continuous improvement compared to baseline pre-treatment levels, enhancing post-recovery quality of life.”

Supported by solid clinical data and innovative research, the goal of cancer treatment has expanded from simply eradicating cancer cells to a broader strategy that takes long-term quality of life into account. Given its favourable outcomes and high safety profile, HKSH Cancer Centre has now incorporated 5-fraction proton therapy for breast cancer as one of its treatment options, allowing for flexible and personalised treatment plans tailored to individual patients’ conditions, taking precision cancer care to the next level.

* Clinical Outcomes and Toxicity of Proton Therapy for Breast Cancer: A Single Institution Study. PTCOG-AO-2025.
** Biopsychosocial Study on Ultrahypofractionated Proton Therapy for Breast Cancer Patients: Early Clinical Outcome. PTCOG 2026.

About HKSH Medical Group
Officially launched in September 2017, HKSH Medical Group promotes public health and advanced medicine through a multi-faceted, coordinated approach across clinical services, medical education, scientific research and public health education. Members of the Group, including Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, HKSH Healthcare, HKSH Eastern Medical Centre, HKSH Cancer Centre and HKSH Institute for Innovation & Professional Development, are dedicated to offering top-quality holistic care to patients.

Established in 1922, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital is one of the key members of HKSH Medical Group and a leading private hospital in Hong Kong. Living up to its motto of ‘Quality in Service, Excellence in Care’, the Hospital is committed to serving the public as well as promoting medical education and research.

For more information about HKSH Medical Group, please visit http://www.hksh.com.